A large-scale test of the link between intergroup contact and support for social change

Tabea Hässler¹, Johannes Ullrich², Michelle Bernardino³, Nurit Shnabel⁴, Colette Van Laar⁵, Daniel Valdenegro⁶, Simone Sebben², Linda R Tropp⁷, Emilio Paolo Visintin^{8

9}, Roberto González³, Ruth K Ditlmann¹⁰, Dominic Abrams¹¹, Hema Preya Selvanathan^{7

12}, Marija Branković¹³, Stephen Wright¹⁴, Jorina von Zimmermann¹⁵, Michael Pasek^{16

17}, Anna Lisa Aydin¹⁸, Iris Žeželj¹⁹, Adrienne Pereira⁸, Nóra Anna Lantos²⁰, Mario Sainz^{21

22}, Andreas Glenz², Hana Oberpfalzerová²³, Michal Bilewicz²⁴, Anna Kende²⁰, Olga Kuzawinska²⁴, Sabine Otten²⁵, Edona Maloku²⁶, Masi Noor²⁷, Pelin Gul²⁸, Jessica Pistella²⁹, Roberto Baiocco²⁹, Margareta Jelic³⁰, Evgeny Osin³¹, Orly Bareket⁴, Dinka Corkalo Biruski³⁰, Jonathan E Cook³², Maneeza Dawood³³, Lisa Droogendyk³⁴, Angélica Herrera Loyo³⁵, Kaltrina Kelmendi³⁶, Luiza Mugnol Ugarte³⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. tabea.haessler@uzh.ch.
² Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
³ School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
⁴ The School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁶ School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
⁷ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.
⁸ Department of Humanities, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
⁹ Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Migration, Integration and Transnationalization Department, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Berlin, Germany.
¹¹ School of Psychology, University of Kent, Kent, UK.
¹² School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
¹³ Department of Psychology, Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
¹⁵ Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁶ Department of Psychology, The New School for Social Research, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁷ ARTIS International, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.
¹⁹ Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
²⁰ Department of Social Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
²¹ Department of Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
²² Department of Psychology, University of Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico.
²³ Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
²⁴ Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
²⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
²⁶ Social Sciences Unit, Rochester Institute of Technology in Kosovo, Pristina, Kosovo.
²⁷ Department of Psychology, Keele University, Newcastle-under-Lyme, UK.
²⁸ Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
²⁹ Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
³⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
³¹ Department of Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.
³² Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
³³ Department of Psychology, Columbia University in the City of New York, New York, NY, USA.
³⁴ School of Social and Life Sciences, Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
³⁵ Department of Informatics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
³⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Pristina, Pristina, Kosovo.
³⁷ Department of Psychology, D'OR Institute for Research and Education, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

PMID: 31988440
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0815-z

A large-scale test of the link between intergroup contact and support for social change

Tabea Hässler et al. Nat Hum Behav. 2020 Apr.

. 2020 Apr;4(4):380-386.

doi: 10.1038/s41562-019-0815-z. Epub 2020 Jan 27.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. tabea.haessler@uzh.ch.
² Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
³ School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
⁴ The School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁶ School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
⁷ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.
⁸ Department of Humanities, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
⁹ Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Migration, Integration and Transnationalization Department, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Berlin, Germany.
¹¹ School of Psychology, University of Kent, Kent, UK.
¹² School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
¹³ Department of Psychology, Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
¹⁵ Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁶ Department of Psychology, The New School for Social Research, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁷ ARTIS International, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.
¹⁹ Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
²⁰ Department of Social Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
²¹ Department of Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
²² Department of Psychology, University of Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico.
²³ Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
²⁴ Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
²⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
²⁶ Social Sciences Unit, Rochester Institute of Technology in Kosovo, Pristina, Kosovo.
²⁷ Department of Psychology, Keele University, Newcastle-under-Lyme, UK.
²⁸ Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
²⁹ Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
³⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
³¹ Department of Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.
³² Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
³³ Department of Psychology, Columbia University in the City of New York, New York, NY, USA.
³⁴ School of Social and Life Sciences, Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
³⁵ Department of Informatics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
³⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Pristina, Pristina, Kosovo.
³⁷ Department of Psychology, D'OR Institute for Research and Education, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

PMID: 31988440
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0815-z

Erratum in

Author Correction: A large-scale test of the link between intergroup contact and support for social change.
Hässler T, Ullrich J, Bernardino M, Shnabel N, Laar CV, Valdenegro D, Sebben S, Tropp LR, Visintin EP, González R, Ditlmann RK, Abrams D, Selvanathan HP, Brankovic M, Wright S, von Zimmermann J, Pasek M, Aydin AL, Žeželj I, Pereira A, Lantos NA, Sainz M, Glenz A, Oberpfalzerová H, Bilewicz M, Kende A, Kuzawinska O, Otten S, Maloku E, Noor M, Gul P, Pistella J, Baiocco R, Jelic M, Osin E, Bareket O, Biruski DC, Cook JE, Dawood M, Droogendyk L, Loyo AH, Kelmendi K, Ugarte LM. Hässler T, et al. Nat Hum Behav. 2020 Jul;4(7):771. doi: 10.1038/s41562-020-0915-9. Nat Hum Behav. 2020. PMID: 32576984

Abstract

Guided by the early findings of social scientists, practitioners have long advocated for greater contact between groups to reduce prejudice and increase social cohesion. Recent work, however, suggests that intergroup contact can undermine support for social change towards greater equality, especially among disadvantaged group members. Using a large and heterogeneous dataset (12,997 individuals from 69 countries), we demonstrate that intergroup contact and support for social change towards greater equality are positively associated among members of advantaged groups (ethnic majorities and cis-heterosexuals) but negatively associated among disadvantaged groups (ethnic minorities and sexual and gender minorities). Specification-curve analysis revealed important variation in the size-and at times, direction-of correlations, depending on how contact and support for social change were measured. This allowed us to identify one type of support for change-willingness to work in solidarity- that is positively associated with intergroup contact among both advantaged and disadvantaged group members.

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References

1. Allport, G. W. The Nature of Prejudice (Addison-Wesley, 1954).
1. Schofield, J. W. School desegregation and intergroup relations: a review of the literature. Rev. Educ. Res. 17, 335–409 (1991).
1. Lemmer, G. & Wagner, U. Can we really reduce ethnic prejudice outside the lab? A meta-analysis of direct and indirect contact interventions. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 4, 152–168 (2015). - DOI
1. Pettigrew, T. F. & Tropp, L. R. A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 90, 751–783 (2006). - DOI
1. Çakal, H., Hewstone, M., Schwär, G. & Heath, A. An investigation of the social identity model of collective action and the ‘sedative’ effect of intergroup contact among black and white students in South Africa. Br. J. Soc. Psychol. 50, 606–627 (2011). - DOI

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A large-scale test of the link between intergroup contact and support for social change

Affiliations

A large-scale test of the link between intergroup contact and support for social change

Authors

Affiliations

Erratum in

Abstract

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Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources